Asda is to enter the RFID arena for the first time with plans to introduce tagging into its warehouses and back of stores throughout this year.
The move comes as Tesco admitted that there was a question mark hanging over the deadline for its summer roll-out of radio frequency identification to its 30 distribution centres and 1,400 stores.
Asda confirmed plans to introduce RFID after Simon Langford, Wal-Mart’s RFID global manager, said in an interview in the US that the retail giant was now in the
planning stages to introduce such technology in the UK and Canada.
An Asda spokesman said: “We are planning to implement RFID throughout 2006, working with a number of suppliers and learning from the technology within Wal-Mart. Along with Canada, we will be the first international country within Wal-Mart to use RFID.”
It will initially be used within Asda’s supply chain, with no plans to move into item-level tagging. “Barcodes are still the most cost-effective method at the moment,” he added. “If we put RFID chips in every item we sold, there would be so much data that we wouldn’t be able to track it. That technology is decades away.”
In the US, Wal-Mart has brought on 200 more suppliers to its RFID trials this month, adding to the initial 130 that came on board in January 2005. A further 300 are scheduled to adopt RFID in January next year.
Meanwhile, Tesco said that the revised deadline of a mid-2006 roll-out, which was put back from Christmas, could still not be guaranteed. “Within the next couple of months we will be in a position to confirm final plans. It’s a development thing; we’re working with lots of suppliers on this,” said a spokeswoman.
Tesco’s roll-out has been held up as a result of issues involving tag reading and interference at its depots.
Meanwhile, tag efficiency
Rachel Barnes
The move comes as Tesco admitted that there was a question mark hanging over the deadline for its summer roll-out of radio frequency identification to its 30 distribution centres and 1,400 stores.
Asda confirmed plans to introduce RFID after Simon Langford, Wal-Mart’s RFID global manager, said in an interview in the US that the retail giant was now in the
planning stages to introduce such technology in the UK and Canada.
An Asda spokesman said: “We are planning to implement RFID throughout 2006, working with a number of suppliers and learning from the technology within Wal-Mart. Along with Canada, we will be the first international country within Wal-Mart to use RFID.”
It will initially be used within Asda’s supply chain, with no plans to move into item-level tagging. “Barcodes are still the most cost-effective method at the moment,” he added. “If we put RFID chips in every item we sold, there would be so much data that we wouldn’t be able to track it. That technology is decades away.”
In the US, Wal-Mart has brought on 200 more suppliers to its RFID trials this month, adding to the initial 130 that came on board in January 2005. A further 300 are scheduled to adopt RFID in January next year.
Meanwhile, Tesco said that the revised deadline of a mid-2006 roll-out, which was put back from Christmas, could still not be guaranteed. “Within the next couple of months we will be in a position to confirm final plans. It’s a development thing; we’re working with lots of suppliers on this,” said a spokeswoman.
Tesco’s roll-out has been held up as a result of issues involving tag reading and interference at its depots.
Meanwhile, tag efficiency
Rachel Barnes
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